Samajwadi Party Leader Shivpal Singh Yadav going back after cast his vote for Rajya Sabha Polls at state assembly in Lucknow on friday.Express photo by Vishal Srivastav 23.03.2018
In a move apparently aimed at denting the Yadav vote bank of Samajwadi Party (SP), rebel party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav has given place to 12 Yadavs in the list of 30 district presidents he announced on Sunday for his newly formed Samajwadi Secular Morcha. The list also includes five Muslims.
In the list, SP MLA Shivpal has appointed Yadavs in Etawah, Etah, Jaunpur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Farrukhabad and Faizabad districts of Uttar Pradesh. He has named district presidents from the Muslim community in Firozabad, Farrukhabad, Banda, Lakhimpur Kehri and Baghpat.
Sources in the Morcha said a majority of district presidents were given organisational posts in SP when Shivpal was the party’s state president. More Yadavs and Muslims are likely to get place in the upcoming lists of district presidents and other posts, they said.
Among the districts for which Morcha unit presidents have been appointed, Etawah is the home turf of the SP first family. Azamgarh has a dominant population of Yadavs and Muslims and SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav was elected MP from the constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.
A few days back, Shivpal had released a list of in-charges for 14 mandal units of the Morcha. Yadavs have been named in-charge for the divisions of Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Lucknow. Shivpal has also released a list of 16 spokespersons for the Morcha.
Morcha spokesperson Mohd Shahid said dedicated workers from all sections of society will be given representation to strengthen the Morcha. He said a list announcing names of district presidents of the outfit in the 45 other districts of UP will be released soon.
He also said Shivpal has approached Election Commission for registration of a political outfit — Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party. “Once that party is registered, district presidents of the Morcha will become district chiefs of the new party. Our candidates will contest elections in the future on the symbol of the new party.”